Facebook Vs. YouTube for video content supremacy. It's been a hot topic, with video content proving an increasingly powerful weapon in the battle to effectively capture the attention online audiences. And while YouTube has been dubbed the second largest search engine in the world, many signs point to the power of Facebook as the winning platform to publish videos.
News that Facebook has released an update quantifying video activity has been released, but the same question still exists. Which is the right platform is for hosting video content?
Here are a few things to keep in mind when betting on Facebook Vs. YouTube:
Round 1: Content Consumption
If a large portion of your audience is on Facebook, it makes sense to publish content here. The launch of autoplay has made the user experience for video content on Facebook's timeline a seamless one. The larger question for you will be whether or not the people watching your content there turn into qualified leads. Unless you have a well-rounded and executed content strategy, be careful in dedicating resources. Just because the internet is awash with articles about Facebook taking over YouTube, doesn't mean you need to dive in.
YouTube
YouTube is more or less the destination, right? Sure, you can embed a one-off YouTube video in your blog post to enrich the article, but most content marketers are looking to get you to go and subscribe to a channel. That's where you can build out your playlists and organize your video content in a way that keeps the audience watching video after video. The longer their time on channel, the higher your video content ranks, and the easier it is to find you in search.
Round 2: Content Shareability
Unruly reported that UK department store John Lewis uploaded a video ad direct to Facebook this year for the first time. In the first day after launch, the Facebook video attracted 76.9% of the social media shares versus 23.1% for YouTube. Again, for B2C, this is fair. Even campaigns like the Ice Bucket Challenge have taken off because of the power of Facebook shareability. With 1.44 billion monthly users scrolling the feed, it's hard to deny Facebook as the place where video content goes viral.
YouTube
The new "How-To" generation on YouTube has video searches up 70%. As content becomes more about usability, YouTube is well-positioned as the place to find and share knowledge. With an easier embed system, and a library of content that spans any topic you can imagine... it's all about the YouTube link. Share to Facebook, share to Twitter, and update your subscribers - YouTube is the all inclusive video source.
Round 3: Content Analytics
Facebook has recently enhanced it's capacity to track the performance of video. Through metrics like: reach, views, and average completion, you can determine better what content audiences are engaging with the most. After complaints that Facebook's video metrics were inaccurate, their analytics are finally catching up to the rapid growth.
YouTube
You can't beat tried-and-true analytics that break down: views, estimated minutes watched, demographics, playback locations, traffic sources, devices and audience retention. YouTube can provide deeper data for stronger niche content creation. Get subscriber, playlist and annotation (basically CTA) engagement reports. Pretty comprehensive stuff.
Final Scorecards
- Content Consumption: 9
- Content Shareability: 10
- Content Analytics: 8
YouTube
- Content Consumption: 10
- Content Shareability: 9
- Content Analytics: 9
The Decision
While the fight isn't over, Facebook still has a lot to prove in the realm of video. YouTube has long reigned the champion of video content. With it's direct link to search, it's going to be tough for Facebook to officially take belt.
What do you think would make for a Facebook TKO?
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